U.S. WNT’s Olympic Qualifying by the Numbers

WNTJan 31, 2012

The U.S. Women celebrate their 2012 CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament title on Sunday.

The U.S. Women’s National Team put up some staggering results to win the CONCACAF Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament to open 2012: five wins, five shutouts, 38 goals and of course a berth into the 2012 London Olympics.

Here are a few noteworthy statistics following the USA’s 4-0 victory over Canada on Sunday in the qualifying championship:

Hope Solo went 450 scoreless minutes in this year’s qualifying, and with the final four minutes of the 2008 CONCACAF qualifying, she has a qualifying-record shutout streak of 454 minutes. Overall, Solo is in the midst of a 505-minute shutout streak dating back to 2011. The last goal Solo gave up came during a 1-1 draw against Canada on Sept. 17, 2011, at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan.

Offensively, six different U.S. players scored four or more goals through the five qualifying matches: Carli Lloyd (6), Amy Rodriguez (6), Abby Wambach (6), Sydney Leroux (5), Alex Morgan (4) and Heather O’Reilly (4). To give some perspective on just how solid this 2012 offense has been, in 2011 there were only five players who finished the entire year with four or more goals: Wambach (8), Lloyd (6), Morgan (6), Lauren Cheney (5) and Rodriguez (4).

Cheney had a qualifying-high seven assists for the U.S., with Morgan adding six assists. In 2011, Cheney and Megan Rapinoe led the team with five assists apiece. Cheney’s in great shape to reach double digits in that category this year, and the last time the U.S. WNT had a double-digit assists person was in 2008, when O’Reilly and Wambach had 10 apiece. It is far too early to be looking at the possibility of reaching Mia Hamm’s 20-plus assist campaigns.

Wambach surpassed Kristine Lilly with her 130th and 131st goals against Canada on Sunday to move to No. 2 all-time in goal scoring, trailing only Hamm (158). Lilly scored her 130th and final goal on May 22, 2010, during a 4-0 win against Germany in Cleveland, Ohio. Wambach coincidentally had two goals in that match. Lilly was 38 years and 10 months old when she reached the 130-goal mark. Wambach surpassed that feat at 31 years and seven months old.